''Dusisiren'' is an extinct genus of dugong related to the

Steller's sea cow Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') is an extinct sirenian described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. At that time, it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range extended across ...

that lived in the North Pacific during the

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

Paleobiology

''Dusisiren'' is a sirenian exemplar of the evolutionary theory of

punctuated equilibrium In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a Scientific theory, theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolution, evol ...

. It evolved from a mangrove-eating ancestor to adapt to cold climates in the North Pacific by developing the capability to feed on kelp beds out on the open coast. The incipient modifications to the cervicals suggest that it was capable of maneuvering and feeding in high-energy environments of surf-swept coasts with deep, cold water.D. P. Domning. 1978. Sirenian evolution in the North Pacific Ocean. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 118:1-176

Species

There are four recognized species of ''Dusisiren'': *''Dusisiren jordani'' (Kellogg, 1925) ( type) *''Dusisiren reinharti'' Domning, 1978 *''Dusisiren dewana'' Takahashi, Domning, and Saito, 1986 *''Dusisiren takasatensis'' Kobayashi, Horikawa, & Miyazaki, 1995S. Kobayashi, H. Horikawa, and S. Miyazaki. 1995. A new species of Sirenia (Mammalia: Hydrodamalinae) from the Shiotsubo Formation in Takasato, Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(4):815-829

References

Miocene sirenians Pliocene sirenians Cenozoic mammals of Asia Cenozoic mammals of North America Prehistoric placental genera Fossil taxa described in 1978 {{Paleo-sirenian-stub

Paleobiology

Species

See also

Related genus

References